Friday, 31 May 2024

As we enter the final month of our financial year it has been a week of endings and new beginnings, at home and at work.

Today my son finally finishes High School with his Prom tonight.  He has his Duke of Edinburgh Gold award in his back pocket and after completing the Edinburgh Half Marathon in the pouring rain his next goals are the Euros Germany tour and his degree in politics.  My daughter completes her Masters at Edinburgh Uni with just a dissertation to submit before her new adventures.  And after falling during a run my wife continued to work despite the bruises at a Uni in the North of England.  Occasionally we all do meet but as we move onto another life stage those moments become very rare!

This is my home life.  But I get paid to be here!  All of our volunteers have to juggle home life, work and helping the community become better in whatever way suits their lifestyle.

As in life at ‘work’ sometimes through tough moments (and the minor grumble) we see much greater things happening. 

WILDSIDE

The grass is growing at the new PlayPark at Wildside so hopefully it will be ready for the summer holidays.  We have wifi available outside the building as well as inside.  The Polycrub has several users.  There are even plans to make the pétanque court usable and accessible to book at the new online booking system.  Next year new toilets, windows and improving electrical boards into the building (all very exciting!)

HIGHLAND GATHERING

A little way down the road the Highland Gathering will be up and running late July but all the preparation for that has been going on over the last six months (yes, it doesn’t simply ‘happen’) and despite the stress, strain and hoping that it doesn’t rain the sense of achievement is always worth seeing on staff, volunteers and participants faces before well earned summer holidays.

ERROGIE

Errogie Steering Group is growing and working towards Stage 2 of the development but we are concentrating on events that can happen now from the school workshops designing a stained glass window to a wedding to a birthday party to a film showing and new initiatives to improve our carbon footprint. 

SLIPWAY AND RIVERSIDE FIELD

At the slipway interim arrangements are being put into place for the area as grass roots activity from the ground up can lead to bigger and better activity on the Loch later on.  The Riverside Field Sports and Recreation Project has seen positive discussions with planning regarding the pre planning condition trackers.

LAND AND HOUSING

The residents at Inverfarigaig have been taking advantage of the land that was purchased by the Trust on their behalf.  Again a really grass roots initiative with community members rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it.  Good on them.  And BIG NEWS we agreed the funding and started working on building two homes for affordable rent that will be owned by the community for the community.  This will mean there will be four homes in Inverfarigaig for rent, all managed by Communities Housing Trust on our behalf.  This is an amazing achievement!

GRANTS

Alongside all this the Board ensures we can continue to support groups from the Community Council to Boleskine Community Care to Gorthleck Hall to school programmes to those studying and we try and ensure we make financial provision for all that too.  As you can imagine this is not easy (if you read my post about the joint challenges we face at the Community Council / Trust meeting) but as a community we are all hitting it out of the ballpark!

AN OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BE MISSED

I will end this week by mentioning an opportunity with the James Hutton Institute.  They offer world-leading scientific solutions for the sustainable management of land, crop and natural resources that support thriving communities.  They respond to the challenges posed by the climate and nature crises through applying their scientific expertise to developing interventions, tools, products and land management practices to improve the resilience of crops, land, natural resources and communities.  They have chosen the  Startherrick and Foyers Community to work with over the next two years on the strength of your Community Action Plan and Place Plan.  This is an opportunity not to be missed.  If you are a student, working or retired you will kick yourself if you do not take part.  More details and how to participate here

2025

February (12 stories)

22 February 📣 ** TODAY ** 📣 - Forest School Meeting

Interested in the future of the Forest School building? From 2pm   Come and speak to us about your thoughts for the Forest School and wider opportunities fo...

21 February Congratulations to Whitebridge Hotel

Whitebridge Hotel are finalists in the National Hotels of the Year - Scotland awards!   The ceremony takes place in Glasgow on the 26th February at The Cr...

19 February 📣 Youth Club returns this Thursday 📣

Youth club is for anyone in P7 to S6 ✅ After a bit of a break, we are delighted to say that Youth Club is back!! ⭐ Important info ⭐ Date - Thursday 20th Februa...

19 February Communications 2025!

We are making a some improvements in the way we share important information with the community in 2025. The SFCT Board and communications team have made the dec...

13 February Mailing List Update

We hope you received your copy of the February newsletter and enjoyed reading through it. The team are busy updating our mailing list and we understand that there may ...

12 February Next Sat 22nd February

Next Sat 22nd February   Inverfarigaig Forest School, Farigaig Forestry Carpark IV2 6XR - From 2pm   Come and speak to us about your thoughts fo...

11 February ⚠️ Update regarding the upcoming works taking place at The Wildside Centre ⚠️

We can now confirm that the scheduled works on upgrading the toilet facilities in the Wildside Centre is starting this Thursday – 13th February.   The Wi...

11 February 🙌 JOIN OUR TEAM 🙌

We are currently recruiting a part-time (30 hours per week) Community Action Plan Project Officer to join our small team, based in the Wildside Centre in Whitebridge, on ...

8 February 📢 THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE 📢

Later today the Pathways Group are hosting their Community Engagement event at the Wildside Centre from 13.30pm.   For the past year, the Pathways Group has be...

6 February Errogie Church Statement

As you will be aware, an announcement was made by the Trust in mid December 2024 that we were unfortunately unable to host three events that were due to take place at Err...

6 February Wildside Wednesday Success!

🙌THANK YOU 🙌 We want to say a big thank you to those of you who popped along to our first Wildside Wednesday event yesterday! It was great to see you all 😃  ...

5 February !! WILDSIDE WEDNESDAY - TODAY !!

Join us TODAY at the Wildside Centre, between 9.30am – 12.30pm where the first Wildside Wednesday of 2025 will take place.  You can shop local, with local p...

January (22 stories)

31 January !! Next Saturday !!

On the 8th Feb The Pathways Group host their Community Engagement Day at the Wildside Centre from 13.30pm.   The group have setup a dedicated Facebook event pa...

30 January Refurbishments to toilets in The Wildside Centre

Following many months of work behind the scenes we are pleased to be able to share with you that work on upgrading the ladies toilets and creating a larger disabled toile...

30 January Fancy a sing song with Monadhliath?

The Monadhliath Choir invites all singers to a charity singing event on the 27.04.2025 at Stratherrick Public Hall. If you would be interested in join...

29 January February Newsletter

We are pleased to share that our Feb newsletter should be making its way through your door next week! 🙌   Please look out for the white envelope addressed to ...

25 January Do you use Instagram?

Did you know that Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust are on Instagram? If you too have an account, why not give our page a follow. We’re keen to build up ...

24 January Foyers Community Fire Station

🚒 Foyers Community Fire Station 🚒   Foyers Community Fire station has a competent crew of 7 personnel, but we are in real need of new recruits, to keep the s...

23 January Wildside Wednesday is returning!

Join us on the 5th February at the Wildside Centre, between 9.30am – 12.30pm.   Here is your chance to shop local, with local produce from Lyne Mhor Crof...

22 January Loch Ness Luvvies - Traditional Burns Supper

This Friday, 24th Jan the Loch Ness Luvvies are hosting their very own Traditional Burns Supper at Stratherrick Hall, Gorthleck at 7.30pm. Tickets are £20 per he...

22 January Timings have been announced!

As you may have recently seen, The Pathways Group are running a Community Engagement event on the 8th February from 1pm at The Wildside Centre. In our previous post, t...

21 January ** Mobile Library Update **

Mark, our local librarian has kindly sent over a full list of dates when he will be stopping in the area. You can find the full list here: https://www.stratherrickcommuni...

20 January Invitation to tender - Health & Safety Consultant required

We are looking for an experienced Health & Safety professional to carry out a comprehensive survey on Errogie Church to ensure that the building is fully compliant fo...

19 January Send in your dates for the Community Calendar!

Did you know we have an online Community Calendar? If not, you can find it here: https://www.stratherrickcommunity.org.uk/calendar/   We would love to inclu...

18 January What's the next step?

For the past year, the Pathways Group has been working hard to promote the local path network, paths that lead through rich landscapes, historical sites, and biodiversity...

15 January Community Engagement Day - 8th Feb

Over the last month you may have noticed that the Pathways Group are holding a Community Engagement Day on the 8th February. You can find out all about the event by follo...

14 January Mobile Library Update

Below you will find a list of updated Dates/Times where you can visit the Mobile Library at The Wildside Centre.   We will add these dates to the Online Commu...

14 January Indoor Carpet Bowls makes it return as of today!

** TODAY ** Indoor Carpet Bowls makes it return as of today! The group return to their weekly session after the Xmas break. Please note: The group will now ...

10 January Community Engagement Event - 8th Feb

The Pathways Group invites you to a community event that explores the potential development of a pathways based app. This is your opportunity to help shape an app which w...

9 January Deadline for Jan/Feb Newsletter Content!

The deadline to send in any content for the Jan/Feb Newsletter is Friday the 17th of January 2025. Please email marketingofficer@sfctrust.org.uk with your articles inclu...

9 January Send us in your photos from the Winter Festival

A HUGE thank you to those of you who have already uploaded photos to our shared community photo gallery during the festival.   If you have any wintery snaps th...

8 January Reverse Advent Calendar Success!

Santa's little helpers would like to thank everyone who contributed in any way to the overwhelming success of this project. The generosity shown by our community was ...

8 January ** MOBILE LIBRARY VISIT TODAY CANCELLED **

Sadly, due to the current road conditions, Mark who drives the local ‘Mobile Library’ will NOT be stopping at Wildside today. All books will be renewed, and h...

7 January Welcome Back

Hello, we hope you had a relaxing time during the festivities. As it’s now time to get back to work, we thought it would be a good idea to update our online communi...